The A's and Barry Zito with a 10-6 record and a 3.20 ERA take on the Red Sox and Josh Beckett with a 12-5 record and a 4.78 ERA.
The last time that Zito faced Beckett, the A's came away with a monstrous 15-3 win and Beckett gave up seven earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. Zito, while he got the win, only lasted 5.0 innings. He pitched well, but the Red Sox know how to work a pitcher extremely well. They're the Moneyball theory come to life if there was any "money" involved. Patience and power. The Red Sox have the most road home runs in the AL. So hopefully Barry is on his game tonight because you've got to imagine that Beckett will be inspired to right the ship against the A's.
The lineup facing Beckett looks like this:
Kendall
Kotsay
Bradley
Thomas
Payton
Swisher
Crosby
Chavez
Ellis
Thank you, Ken Macha. Finally, Eric Chavez has been moved down and the A's hottest hitters are bunched together. That is how you score a lot of runs.
Zito, in what could possibly be his last start for the Oakland Athletics <tears>, faces this lineup:
Youkilis
Loretta
Ortiz
Ramirez
Varitek
Lowell
Pena
Crisp
Gonzalez
I hope Barry can put on a show because as I mentioned before, I'm getting a feeling that we're seeing the last of him in green and gold. Maybe it's just paranoia, but I'm feeling the A's front office might come to the conclusion that it might be the smartest move, especially when you consider the fact that some of the pitchers available on the trading market right now is Livan Hernandez, Ramon Ortiz and Kris Benson. Talk about having a market all to yourself.
Regardless, the A's could be tied for first place at the end of the night if they don't win. The Angels are beating Tampa, even if the Yankees are beating the Rangers.
LET'S GO OAK-LAND!!!!!
